Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets • Hacker News Board

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#161

Post by fredley » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 11:15 AM UTC

ekr wrote: post #159

On the one hand, this is a really neat hack. On the other hand, given the current situation with cars, pollution in cities (air quality, noise-level etc), global warming, I would personally think twice before doing something that would make car driving easier and more pleasant, as that simply incentivizes more driving. (getting a ticket might be a small inconvenience, but it does contribute to creating a slight avers…

American cities are built for cars - there's no way around that issue. To navigate cities you need some sort of powered transportation vehicle, outside of a few just-about-pedestrian-navigable areas downtown.

Don't punish cars, promote electric cars, scooters, bikes, and other ways of getting around. Dedicate more parking to electric-only spots (with chargers), bike racks and bike share docks, and scooter parks.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#162

Post by fbender » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 11:27 AM UTC

chrismeller wrote: post #153

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one neat trick to stop 'them' getting your money. It's so easy you'll be amazed! It's "not speeding" /savedyouaclick

Sure that's a bad example, but he does kind of have a point. In the blog post he estimated it's saved $60,000 in fines. That's a drop in the bucket at the scale we're talking about (a quick Google says the proposed 2018 budget for Chicago was $10.1 billion), but still a decrease. Not only would it cost the government money to employ someone to go through this data and find hotspots like this, someone to go out and ev…

The government is the only entity that does not have to (and never should) follow capitalistic rules. The government is for the people, and capitalism, by definition, is not.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#163

Post by maxerickson » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 11:43 AM UTC

fbender wrote: post #162

chrismeller wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure that's a bad example, but he does kind of have a point. In the blog post he estimated it's saved $60,000 in fines. That's a drop in the bucket at the scale we're talking about (a quick Google says the proposed 2018 budget for Chicago was $10.1 billion), but still a decrease. Not only would it cost the government money to employ someone to go through this data and find hotspots like this, someone to go out and ev…

The government is the only entity that does not have to (and never should) follow capitalistic rules. The government is for the people, and capitalism, by definition, is not.

What are "capitalistic rules"?

Governments absolutely should be looking to make profits, it's just that they don't necessarily have to make them in dollars.

So say you were able to objectively measure the value a program produced (costs are usually already known). If a program costs 10 units for every unit of value it produces, maybe it isn't a good program. If it produces modestly more value than it costs, it's making society a profit.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#164

Post by lettergram » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 12:32 PM UTC

I did something similar for universities, to help students select their courses:

https://easy-a.net/

I wrote a blog post about it, because it requires a ton of work to get FOIA requested data - this I'm assuming was done in the same painstaking way:

https://austingwalters.com/foia-requesting-100-universities/

I give this props. I'm sure it required a ton of work

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#165

Post by punnerud » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 12:37 PM UTC

I’m thinking about a similar post. After a long run between different departments in Norway I got out all historic train delays and all form/e-mail contact with the rail company, including the number of people getting money back because of the delays. What interested me most in this article was mawk/AWK.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#166

Post by Anthony-G » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 12:38 PM UTC

I really enjoyed this article – not only because of the content but the distraction-free layout makes it a pleasure to read. It’s rare that I come across a site using such minimal and effective graphic design. As a bonus, the site loads quickly and doesn’t rely on a stream of third-party JavaScript files or other web resources. For a first blog post, I’m impressed. If I ever get around to publishing my own blog, I know what to aim for. Keep up the good work. The web needs more of this!

The footer indicates that the web page was generated using bashblog [1] – looks like it might be worth checking out.

[1] https://github.com/cfenollosa/bashblog

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#167

Post by mmirate » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 12:39 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #131

toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could have these hobbies!

I realise you're being positive and helpful, but I don't think many people could actually have these hobbies. The technical side is within reach of most HN readers, but you also need to see the problem in the first place and understand that it's actually solvable. Most people would assume that any effort would be wasted as the authorities would prefer to keep their revenue generator, so they'd never go through with t…

> but you also need to ... understand that [the problem is] actually solvable. Most people would assume that any effort would be wasted as the authorities would prefer to keep their revenue generator, so they'd never go through with the project.

Any reasonable person would make such an assumption without a second thought.

I'm still baffled that the city took any action whatsoever in response to this guy's request. How could he have known that they would just roll over and cough up $60k in lost revenue? It's seriously out-of-character for them.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#168

Post by Ntrails » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 12:42 PM UTC

danShumway wrote: post #147

onion2k wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realise you're being positive and helpful, but I don't think many people could actually have these hobbies. The technical side is within reach of most HN readers, but you also need to see the problem in the first place and understand that it's actually solvable. Most people would assume that any effort would be wasted as the authorities would prefer to keep their revenue generator, so they'd never go through with t…

You could practice and build the skills necessary to have these types of hobbies! Nothing this person is doing is magic, and to the extent that genetics or extensive background prep play a role you could still overcome that deficit enough to at least participate in the space, even if you weren't the most amazing, talented person in the world. It's not like making the world better by addressing weird problems is a par…

Ok, here's the thing. I like playing video games. I get a sense of enjoyment and fulfillment from an evening spent crushing my enemies on the field of battle via a surprise contingent of minotaurs. That's fine. It's good!

I would not get that same enjoyment from doing what this person does, although I fully agree i could probably replicate his method. My hobbies reflect what I enjoy doing, as do those of most people. I can feel nominally "bad" that mine are so incredibly worthless comparatively but still know that I wouldn't get as much utility from doing the "better" thing?

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#169

Post by mmirate » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 12:43 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #144

ekianjo wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the government, serving the people? Since when? Do you think they install cash grabbing radars on the roads to better serve us?

There's one neat trick to stop 'them' getting your money. It's so easy you'll be amazed! It's "not speeding" /savedyouaclick

Then because time is money, you just lose similar amounts of money over time.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#170

Post by mmirate » Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 12:50 PM UTC

thatjsguy wrote: post #110

jimmaswell wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could also signal the area is starved for parking, so the lane should be removed and bicyclists should just ride in the road for those stretches. Small inconvenience to the bicyclists who still get to use the road, big win for the drivers.

Good lord, just park and walk. Or use that bike lane. Cities have an overabundance of expensive parking [1], which does nothing but waste space and act as giant thermal batteries. Everyone loves complaining about traffic, but we don’t seem to have the political will to do something about it (namely: reduce our dependence on cars). Cities should work to reduce their dependence on cars, not increase it at the expense o…

And how do you travel more than a couple miles and arrive on-time, during the summer, wearing businesslike attire, without smelling like a cyclist upon arrival?